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boston university
politics
What the Heck Was Bobby Jindal Talking About?
The Louisiana governor had a tough act to follow Tuesday night. But Bobby Jindal, decidedly another rising star among the GOP's ranks, gulped down his fears and strode through the hallways of his mansion to deliver the "Republican Response" to Barack Obama's pep talk for America.
Bearing resemblance to an essay I wrote in the fourth grade, Jindal's speech was titled "Americans Can Do Anything." Obama had just spoken about making the country stronger than ever, like a majestic phoenix rising from the ashes of the nation's collapsed banking system. On the way, Obama even promised to cure cancer. How is Jindal supposed to respond to that?
He did the only thing he could do -- or at least what his speechwriters had planned out for him. He talked about Obama's historic presidency. He spent an unusually long time talking about how his own parents came to Louisiana from India, and they couldn't pay for his birth delivery, but his dad worked out a deal with a doctor, and then one time he went to the grocery store with his dad, and his dad was awed by the amount of food on the shelves, and then he said, "Bobby, Americans can do anything."
At an apparent loss for a segue into his official response to Obama, Jindal opted to tell another anecdote -- this time about when he visited a sheriff during Katrina, and the sheriff was yelling into the phone, and Jindal asked him why he was so mad, and the sheriff said that volunteers with boats who came to rescue people on their rooftops couldn't get permission to save people because "some bureaucrat" forbade them from rowing without proof of insurance and registration. Then Jindal said that was ridiculous, and the sheriff yelled into the phone again, and --
Hey, Bobby, do you have any specifics about the economy, or anything?
After what seemed like hours later, Jindal finally got to his point: Republicans rightfully wanted to lower taxes to "create more jobs." But the darn Democrats axed the plan. Instead, he said, they passed a wasteful bill that puts aside $140 million for "volcano monitoring."
Hey, Democrats! What you "should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.," Jindal awkwardly quipped.
Jindal also highlighted other vague GOP principles: to "address the crisis in health care," "make sure every child in America gets the best possible education" and "promote confidence in America."
And for all his talk about Democrats' quibbling and misguided politics, he chided them for not being "bipartisan" enough. Everyone should "put aside partisan politics and work together," he said. No word yet on whether his fellow Republicans, nearly all of whom voted against the stimulus package, got that message.
Jindal, who gained political points among some Republicans when he said last week that he will refuse some stimulus money, also may have forgotten to look over his notes after Obama's address. One of the first things Obama said was, "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
Yet Jindal for some reason countered with, "Don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover, or that America's best days are behind her."
Jindal, whose tie matched the stripes on the American flag behind him, closed his national debut by invoking the abolition of slavery, the triumph over the Great Depression, victories in not one but two world wars, equalities gained from the civil rights battle, the extinguishing of the "Soviet menace" and the courageous response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man," he said, "and the American spirit will triumph again."
Bearing resemblance to an essay I wrote in the fourth grade, Jindal's speech was titled "Americans Can Do Anything." Obama had just spoken about making the country stronger than ever, like a majestic phoenix rising from the ashes of the nation's collapsed banking system. On the way, Obama even promised to cure cancer. How is Jindal supposed to respond to that?
He did the only thing he could do -- or at least what his speechwriters had planned out for him. He talked about Obama's historic presidency. He spent an unusually long time talking about how his own parents came to Louisiana from India, and they couldn't pay for his birth delivery, but his dad worked out a deal with a doctor, and then one time he went to the grocery store with his dad, and his dad was awed by the amount of food on the shelves, and then he said, "Bobby, Americans can do anything."
At an apparent loss for a segue into his official response to Obama, Jindal opted to tell another anecdote -- this time about when he visited a sheriff during Katrina, and the sheriff was yelling into the phone, and Jindal asked him why he was so mad, and the sheriff said that volunteers with boats who came to rescue people on their rooftops couldn't get permission to save people because "some bureaucrat" forbade them from rowing without proof of insurance and registration. Then Jindal said that was ridiculous, and the sheriff yelled into the phone again, and --
Hey, Bobby, do you have any specifics about the economy, or anything?
After what seemed like hours later, Jindal finally got to his point: Republicans rightfully wanted to lower taxes to "create more jobs." But the darn Democrats axed the plan. Instead, he said, they passed a wasteful bill that puts aside $140 million for "volcano monitoring."
Hey, Democrats! What you "should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.," Jindal awkwardly quipped.
Jindal also highlighted other vague GOP principles: to "address the crisis in health care," "make sure every child in America gets the best possible education" and "promote confidence in America."
And for all his talk about Democrats' quibbling and misguided politics, he chided them for not being "bipartisan" enough. Everyone should "put aside partisan politics and work together," he said. No word yet on whether his fellow Republicans, nearly all of whom voted against the stimulus package, got that message.
Jindal, who gained political points among some Republicans when he said last week that he will refuse some stimulus money, also may have forgotten to look over his notes after Obama's address. One of the first things Obama said was, "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
Yet Jindal for some reason countered with, "Don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover, or that America's best days are behind her."
Jindal, whose tie matched the stripes on the American flag behind him, closed his national debut by invoking the abolition of slavery, the triumph over the Great Depression, victories in not one but two world wars, equalities gained from the civil rights battle, the extinguishing of the "Soviet menace" and the courageous response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man," he said, "and the American spirit will triumph again."
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moderate
12:34PM 12:34PM Feb 25th 2009
Puleeze; Are you intensionaly being obtuse? The election had everything with Bush-Cheney. They destroyed our economy, environment,started a war with Iraq, because all those iraqie pilots. Denied science and took away our liberties and they tortured people. All wrong for America. We are better than those two
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moderate
12:38PM 12:38PM Feb 25th 2009
Mahal; if palin was able to get that so called 70% silent christian majority why didn't she? could it be you are just fantasizing about this, I think so.
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Ed
1:26PM 1:26PM Feb 25th 2009
Only a fool would belittle "the Soviet menace". But then our commentator,like many of his type, believes that "meaningful" history began the day they were born and that he will resove conflict by sheer force of personality. Let me know how that works out.
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KB
1:33PM 1:33PM Feb 25th 2009
I listened to Pres Obama last night, and what I heard was a really nice story. All of the ohhhs and ahhs from Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden can't change the fact that this man has NO EXPERIENCE!!! This is NOT Chicago, we are not the little community that needs organizing. His cabinet is a bunch of liers and tax evaders, that Obama hand picked. Pres Obama can talk all day long, and sound really really good because he has excellent speech writers. But the bottom line is, do you believe him ??? I do not. Do you believe that he knows of the mechanics to make all of this work ? I do not. Do you think he really shares our ideals of what this country stands for ? I especially do not believe this. Do you really believe that Pres Obama is bi-partisan ? I don't believe him. He absolutely needs our support, if we believe in him. I do not believe in him, and his really good speech last night did not ring true with me. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but this is mine.
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john
1:49PM 1:49PM Feb 25th 2009
I particually like this kid's comment " Hey Bobby, do you have any specifics about the economy ,or anything". We have received so much detail from Obama and his main man Timothy G. that at Tim's last meeting with top economic investors chuckling and laughter were heard at the vagueness of his plan!!!!
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mahalapril
6:05PM 6:05PM Feb 25th 2009
Moderate- You already know the reason. The liberal-biased media was portraying Sarah Palin falsely as naive,inexperienced and not fit to be commander-in-chief which should have applied to Obama because during the primary Biden and Hillary said the same things about Obama but now they are covering up the incompetent,corrupt,dishonest,islamic terrorist sympathetic Obama administration because they work for him now.You should buy the video disc about media malpractice which the liberal- biased committed against Sarah Palin. Next time in the 2012 election people will not be fooled again unless the US military wakes up and decide to take over this worst Administration in US history and hold immediately an election to have a new competent,honest,uncorrupted,strong national security minded administration. If not we are on our way to becoming a third world country.
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Tatiana
6:45PM 6:45PM Feb 25th 2009
mahalapril writes: "unless the US military wakes up and decide to take over this worst Administration in US history and hold immediately an election to have a new competent,honest,uncorrupted,strong national security minded administration"
Wow. Do you realize that calling for the overthrow of the government is treason?
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moderate
9:54PM 9:54PM Feb 25th 2009
you repubs are so funny when you repeat the same actions and phrases over and over, they still do not work. If she was so great it would have showed. It took her 6 years and 6colleges to get a4 year degree in sport broadcasting. Obviosly she never uses her mind only her breasts.
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palin_the_impaler
12:29AM 12:29AM Feb 26th 2009
Liberal-Bias media? what Liberal Bias? Lol.
There's a corporate bias yes everyone knows that but a liberal bais? please.
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dewayne
10:31AM 10:31AM Feb 27th 2009
Wow, you sound amazingly stupid, almost as bad as Sarah Palin did in those interviews. The words came out of her mouth, period. The "liberal-biased media" didn't make her say any of those things, she said them on her own. Being the governor of Alaska doesn't qualify you for the presidency. I don't need a hockey mom to cheer for me at my hockey matches, or a charismatic personality. I need someone with ideas and intellect. You, and others of your ilk, want the American people to be persuaded by folksiness and "down home good talk." I'm not interested in that, we live in a DIVERSE country where everyone doesn't fall for the folksiness, hence Obama/Biden was the winning ticket in the election.
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MG
3:23PM 3:23PM Feb 25th 2009
Jindal's presidential campaign might be the shortest on record. It didn't even last an HOUR.
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Larry
3:54PM 3:54PM Feb 25th 2009
He reminded me of Alfalfa in the Little Rascals movie.
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whoszoomingwho
5:29PM 5:29PM Feb 25th 2009
How can Jindal in one moment accept BILLIONS OF DOLLARS and in the next breath act disgusted by the whole thing. HIS PARTY WAS IN CONTROL WHILE THIS HAPPENED>Jindal is no different than Palin in that he is the puppet of the Republican's Neo-cons and a last ditch hail mary pass at attempting to keep Haliburton,Cheney et all,Limbaugh and Hannity in the katrillionare zone.Our country ia made up of compassionate,intellegent,hardworking moral folks who are sick and tired of republican rule. The people spoke and we are now moving into a positive future without the unrealistic ideologies of right wing narcistic fatcats like Jindal, Limbaugh and Cheney....
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falling
6:40PM 6:40PM Feb 25th 2009
I assuming you are one of the Obama voters who didn't know that DEMOCRATS were in control of Congress for last TWO YEARS of the Bush administration! Or perhaps you don't know that the president can only make suggestions while decides whether or not to put those suggestions into action. Or maybe you are just one of the Democrats who get their news from SNL and have absolutely no clue at all!
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FireEagle
9:49AM 9:49AM Feb 27th 2009
I think you are correct 'falling', these idiots think that the Dumbocrats had nothing to do with the housing crisis. That the Republicans were in control for that last 2 years. But before that when Clinton was president, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd (for you morons they are in congress), drafted legislation that forced banks to make loans to people that could not make the payments or even have a job. I know because I have relatives that should have never been loaned money to buy the house that they bought because they did not have enough money to make the payments. The problem is that the Republicans and Bush did not investigate these risky loans. They were more focused on 9/11, the terrorist threat, Katrina, and numerous other problems. So I do fault the Republicans for that.
What has really pissed me off is that wanton disregard that Pelosi, and Harry Reed have by passing the biggest pork package in the history of America. And the empty suit in the White house SIGNED IT..
The Government Accounting Office says that if the Government did nothing, we would be over this crisis with in a year or 2. Now we will be paying for the bailout for years and years and years and may never get out of the debit.
"President Obama says that "economists from across the political spectrum agree" on the need for massive government spending to stimulate the economy. In fact, many economists disagree. Hundreds of them, including Nobel laureates and other prominent scholars, have signed a statement that the Cato Institute has placed in major newspapers across the United States. " -- http://www.cato.org/fiscalreality
I would rather have a fiscal conservative that does not speak well than a smooth talking used car salesman that is selling us a lemon that costs 1 trillion dollars and my end up costing 3 trillion according to experts in finance.
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lars
5:56PM 5:56PM Feb 25th 2009
I love how he says, "Some of you are worried about losing your health care."
Hey jackass, I havent had health care for 10 years....and I've always had a job. Fu buddy!
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mcl449
4:14PM 4:14PM Feb 27th 2009
Idiot, that means he's trying to help you get some coverage.
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M. Reed
6:07PM 6:07PM Feb 25th 2009
So what if the stimulus' went to every individual tax paying citizen in the U.S. Wouldn't that save the economy and stimulate every bank, and industry? What amount would each citizen receive...on each stimulus
package from Bush to Obama? Misdirected funding appears to be the problem. Why do I need to finance GM?
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M. Reed
6:20PM 6:20PM Feb 25th 2009
Split the stimulus package amongst each U.S. citizen and watch the economy jumpstart from home base; because, it just never seems to work when you give it all away to the upper crust. It just goes away!!!
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falling
6:39PM 6:39PM Feb 25th 2009
No one would say that Jindal was in Obama's catagory when it comes to reading a speech off a teleprompter, but I will take a humble, honest man like Bobby Jindal over an egotistical liar like Obama any day! Do a bit of research and find out for yourself what Jindal has actually accomplished, as opposed to Obama who has done absolutely NOTHING in his political life except run for office. Obama gives a good speech, but it didn't take long to see that he has a frightening lack of experience once he took office.
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